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IRONMAN has Plenty to Crow About

His racing days on the Big Island may be over, but three-time IRONMAN world champion Craig Alexander is far from a spent force.

Despite turning his back on Kona, Craig Alexander is keen to return to the top of the podium at the IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Championship in Melbourne this weekend.

It is not just that Alexander wants to prove a 40-something can still be a force in IRONMAN. The Sydney-based triple IRONMAN world champion won the inaugural event in one of the sporting capitals of the world, but had to be content with third place last year behind Eneko Llanos and Marino Vanhoenaker.

While Alexander intimated his IRONMAN racing days may have been over, he was keen to return to Melbourne.

"After Kona I said that I was pretty certain that my racing days on the Big Island were over. It didn't make sense then to race over the IRONMAN distance if I wasn't going to be targeting Kona," Alexander said. "When I was trying to plan a race schedule for the season in January, my plan was to stay home in Australia more and contest more events in the Asia-Pacific region. I immediately targeted Auckland and Geelong, but also had in the back of my mind that if training went well, Melbourne could be a possibility. It is such a big event, the Asia-Pacific Championship, and the timing just works for me. It comes at the end of our summer when I am always fit and is a one hour flight from home."

Note that remark – if his training went well. So a fit Alexander will be a significant threat. After all, he was seventh at the IRONMAN 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship in Auckland after a penalty on the bike, before winning by more than three minutes at Geelong.

"I took a lot of confidence out of winning the race in Geelong. It had a strong field and I had a good day, felt strong in tough conditions, so that brought Melbourne into play even more."

Melbourne will be one of many IRONMAN events Alexander will be either racing or attending in 2013. He was one of the first to sign up for IRONMAN 70.3 Putrajaya, and will also be on hand at events in Europe and North America this season. Alexander has returned to work with IRONMAN as an athlete liason and ambassador.

"It involves sitting in on some meetings, collecting and passing on athlete feedback with regards to operations and rules. The major goal is to provide the athletes with a voice and a pathway of feedback to people who make the decisions. We all want the best for our sport, and that is the goal. More specifically, the goals include keeping the sport drug free, honest, equitable racing and more professionalism from the athletes which hopefully with be reflected in more prize money."

All that will be set aside on Sunday, though, as Alexander seeks to add another title to his impressive resume. The race will feature a battle between Australia’s best ever triathlete, in Alexander, and Luke McKenzie who wants to one day rival the super star for that crown. It is McKenzie’s first outing since his brilliant runner-up effort at IRONMAN World Championship in Hawaii, where many believe he finally showed his undoubted talent on the biggest stage.

"I am excited to race IRONMAN in Melbourne. It’s only three years, old but already regarded as one of the premier events in the world. I raced it in 2012 and unfortunately aggravated my back and DNF’d 24 km into the marathon, so coming back this year I want to get that monkey off my back and have a good race," McKenzie said. "I feel like the bike and run course suit me. The bike course looks pretty straight forward on paper, but it can be a tough one especially if the wind is up. If I can utilise my bike strength and go onto that one way marathon with some time I know I will be hard to catch."

In July McKenzie won IRONMAN Cairns, adding the scalp of Chris McCormack in the process and he’d love nothing more than to add a win over Craig Alexander to his CV.

In the battle for best Australian, do not count out double Olympian Courtney Atkinson who has won two Olympic-distance races last year. However Atkinson is not giving himself any chance in his IRONMAN debut.

"My number one priority is to reach the finish line. Beyond that I am looking to learn and gain experience over the distance," Atkinson said.

The race has also attracted a stellar international field including Vanhoenaker, Dirk Bockel, Jimmy Johnson, Daniel Halksworth, Cameron Brown among many in a world class field for the men’s race.

Join us for our live coverage of the race in Melbourne here on Ironman.com, including live video, text updates and athlete tracking.